Who played Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 film My Fair Lady?

Audrey Hepburn played Eliza Doolittle in the 1964 film My Fair Lady.

Eliza is a poor Cockney flower seller whose strong accent attracts the attention of Professor Henry Higgins, a phonetics expert. Higgins wagers that he can teach her to speak in an upper-class style and present her as a respectable lady. The story explores language, social class, identity, and the question of who has the right to define another person’s transformation.

My Fair Lady was adapted from the 1956 stage musical by Lerner and Loewe, which in turn drew on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion. Hepburn starred opposite Rex Harrison, who played Higgins. Because Hepburn’s singing voice was largely dubbed by Marni Nixon, the film’s credits and production history are sometimes discussed alongside the question of her performance.

The most common mix-up is Julie Andrews. Andrews originated Eliza on Broadway and won acclaim for the stage role, but Hepburn played Eliza in the 1964 movie. The film became a major success and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Harrison.